Content warning: Some parts of this chapter portray abduction and violence, which may be upsetting for some readers.

Kuri was wholly unprepared for what was to come. That moment when her tattoo would be gone once and for all. When that smear upon her flesh would be washed away, how would it make her feel? And would it really come off? There was no guarantee, and that scared Kuri above all else.

When midnight struck in San Francisco, California, marking the change from July 28th to the 29th, it'd be finished. Were she still back home, Kuri would've sat alone in her room, waiting and waiting. There would've been multiple moments when her drowsiness nearly overtook her, but she would press on, desperate to be awake at its exact departure. And when there was no more sign of it, she would cry until she couldn't anymore, relieved.

But since she wasn't at home, things were a lot different. Seventeen hours ahead in Musutafu, Japan, Kuri sat in the common room before dinner. And in this case, she wasn't alone.

On her right, Mina was holding her hand tightly, waiting with her. On her left, Ochako huddled close, trying to reassure Kuri that her tattoo would be coming off in due time. Kirishima and Izuku, sitting on the adjacent couch, offered similar consolation. Bakugo stood nearby, silent and watchful.

Fifteen minutes left.

Kuri let out a sigh. She'd spent so long hiding her tattoo, humiliated and unbearably upset by it, and refused to let anyone see it. Kuri had even managed to hide it while bathing by tying a washcloth around her arm. Her friends, she had known them for months and they had never once pried about her kidnapping. Kuri had kept them in the dark about everything except the tattoo's existence. She didn't know how to tell them. Or if she even had it in her to do so. But she desperately wanted—no, needed—to get it off her chest. To be allowed to burden someone else with the weight of her past and just be held.

"I want to tell you all about what happened," Kuri said quietly. She studied her arm, covered by the black sleeve, as always. "During my kidnapping, I mean."

"Kuri, you don't have to do that…" Mina said.

"But I want to," she replied, earning a nod from Mina. Kuri looked at the others. "This might be a bit of an overshare, and it's upsetting, so if you don't want to hear it, that's okay. I just don't think there's a point in keeping everything a secret anymore."

The others agreed to listen, and Kuri proceeded with her iteration of what happened.

"The events that led up to me actually being kidnapped are kinda fuzzy in my head," Kuri began. "I had gone over to a nearby friend's house for the afternoon to hang out and was walking back home at around seven in the evening? It wasn't even dark yet, and our neighborhood is pretty safe, so I never expected something to happen…"

Kuri was just walking down the sidewalk, only a few streets away from home. She hadn't been too excited to go back. She'd just gotten into an argument with her mom about something Kuri didn't remember, which is why she'd escaped to her friend's place. But she had to go back at some point, so she decided to walk home instead of calling to get picked up. Their house wasn't that far, plus Kuri didn't want to get lectured about wasting her parents' time by making them come get her.

So there she was, a teenage girl walking home alone with nothing but her phone in her hoodie pocket. An easy target, if you ignore her quirk and years of training, but kidnappings were practically unheard of in her area.

Which is why it didn't cross Kuri's mind that the person she could hear approaching her from behind might be dangerous.

And just as Kuri registered that something might be amiss, she was forcefully struck in the side of the head and blacked out.

When she came to, the first thing she noticed was that she was cold. She slowly blinked open her eyes, quickly realizing that she was in an unfamiliar place. Her clothes were gone, and she was left in her underwear. There was a gag in her mouth, and she could feel that her wrists and ankles were bound.

Kuri was in a dark room lying facedown on the concrete floor. She lifted her head to try and get a sense of her surroundings. Separated from the rest of the room with a wall, she could make out stairs leading up, meaning she was probably in a basement. And she had no idea where she was.

Kuri quickly tried to get up, but her restraints prevented the movement. Though it was too dark to see, they felt like cable ties. She struggled against the bindings, tears springing into her eyes. This was very, very bad.

Her head was pounding, and it felt wet and sticky. Though she couldn't see it, the permeating iron smell of her blood lingered in the air. Her arm kind of stung too. She hadn't seen it because her arm was behind her back, but it was because she already had the tattoo.

She was panicking like crazy, as most would in that situation.

What time is it? Where am I? Am I about to be murdered? Did something happen to me while I was asleep? Where are my clothes? I'm never going to see Mama or Dada or Mayu ever again. I'm going to die here all alone. I'm so scared. Is anyone going to come save me? Do they even know that I'm gone?

Kuri rolled over and sat up, taking deep breaths to clear her head. She couldn't keep sitting there crying if she wanted to get out. There was no guarantee that she would be rescued in time, but Kuri could always try to save herself.

She was alone, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Her kidnapper was not in the vicinity, and she couldn't hear any movement upstairs.

Kuri scanned the room for anything she could use to try and break off the cable ties. They were too thick for Kuri to pull apart using brute strength, but if there was something to wear them down…

But the room was empty, the walls and floor bare. Even the ceiling only had a single light fixture. Kuri wiggled her way over to the stairs, hoping to find something sharp. The steps were made of wood, so they were a no-go. She touched the wall next to the stairs with her feet. They were made of cinderblocks, the edges of which were rough and serrated. Hoping it would do the trick, Kuri turned around and began using the edge to saw the cable tie on her ankles. Her legs were her greatest weapon, so she wanted them free as soon as possible.

After several minutes, the cable tie was off. Kuri let out a sob of gratitude, then moved to stand. She was dizzy and wobbly on her feet, which she later found out were symptoms of the concussion she received.

Then, she heard a door open somewhere distant in the house. Someone was home. And they were walking closer.

Kuri's breath hitched, and she shifted to cut the tie on her wrists, frantically trying to get it off in time. Her pulse quickened, faster and faster, until Kuri thought that heart failure would kill her before the kidnapper could.

The footsteps had stopped. They were right at the door. Kuri used all of her strength to tear the cable tie apart. Just as the knob was turning, Kuri broke free. She ripped the cotton gag off as the person opened the door.

Bright light flooded into the room, and Kuri winced. It was a man she didn't recognize. His face contorted in shock as soon as he saw her. He ran down the stairs towards her, and Kuri backed up. Using a hammer he was holding, he swung at her, but Kuri jumped out of the way.

She stumbled as she landed, her body not ready for a battle. Kuri was up against a wall: the worst place to be in a fight. The man swung again, and Kuri brought up an arm to block. As the hard object collided against bone, she screamed in pain.

Then, noticing an opening, Kuri kicked him in the gut as hard as she could and sent the man flying. He hit the opposite wall with a thud, then slid to the ground in a heap. She ran over to him, stealing the hammer from his limp grasp.

Then…she kicked him again, this time in the head. She could already see the bruise forming. And then she stomped on his back. Over and over and over again. Her attacks were bloodthirsty, violent, animalistic…

Villainous.

Her hands were poised by her head. She'd been holding the hammer, about to strike down on the man's skull when she realized. She had gone too far.

He wasn't dead yet, she knew that, but it was still too much. Kuri hated violence, and yet she'd managed to stoop so low. She wanted to kill that man. She'd almost done it.

She staggered backward, nauseated by the sight in front of her. Kuri then realized that the man was out cold and took the opportunity to escape. She ran up the stairs onto the first floor. In the light, she noticed the tattoo. She was taken aback by it but disregarded it at the time.

"Then I found a phone and called the police. They didn't take long to show up," Kuri said. "And then that guy got arrested, and the rest is history. I guess."

No one spoke for a few moments, processing what Kuri had just dumped on all of them. Kuri glanced at Bakugo. He had the same expression the day of the failed mission.

"Did you ever find out why you were kidnapped?" Izuku asked.

"Nope. All I know is that it didn't have to do with my parents or ransom money. But I bet he admitted his motives to someone, and no one told me because it'd be upsetting." Kuri didn't say aloud what she thought he kidnapped her for but assumed that the others could guess.

"I'm so sorry that this happened to you," Ochako said, wrapping her arms around Kuri in a tight hug. She had been doing her best to keep from bursting into tears while talking, but this sent her over the edge. She wept into Ochako's shoulder, the weight of her memories too much to bear.

After a minute, Kuri pulled away, and Kirishima handed her some tissues. Mina released her hand for a second so Kuri could dry her face and wrapped her arm around Kuri's shoulders.

"By the way, there are two more minutes left," Izuku said, checking the clock. Kuri's stomach dropped.

Only two minutes. There was so little time left. In 120 seconds, Kuri's tattoo would be gone. What was the point of hiding it any longer?

"Do you guys want to see my tattoo?" Kuri asked.

"Are you trying to say that you want to show us?" Mina asked. Kuri nodded sheepishly. Kuri got up and stood so her friends could all have a better view. She took a deep breath.

"Now, I know this is gonna surprise you, so it's okay to laugh," Kuri prefaced.

She shakily pinched the end of her sleeve and slowly tugged it off. There was a collective inhale among the group as she pulled the fabric away.

Kuri held out her arm, displaying the tattoo for all to see. Her friends stared at it in silent disbelief.

"As you can see, it's a dick," Kuri said. It was a stupid, rudimentary drawing, like the kind of graffiti you'd find in the margins of a school textbook. It was the bane of Kuri's existence and spanned from her inner wrist to the middle of her arm. Thankfully, it was going to be gone soon enough.

"I now understand why you've been hiding it all this time," Mina said.

"Yeah, I didn't really want to go outside parading this around," Kuri laughed.

"Oh, one more minute," Izuku said.

They all watched the clock in silent anticipation. When there were only thirty seconds left, Kuri looked away. By chance, she made eye contact with Bakugo. She gave him a nervous smile. He looked down, avoiding her gaze. Kuri's smile faltered a bit.

Kuri wondered what he was thinking about the whole mess that was her kidnapping. Did any part of it remind him of his own? From what she'd heard, the circumstances were quite different, but fear was universal. Bakugo had probably been terrified. How strange it was to think that it'd been about a year since both of their kidnappings.

Suddenly, Izuku began to count down, still watching the clock.

"Ten seconds, nine…" he said. Kuri stared down at her arm, unblinking.

Oh. Wow, this is getting real.

"Eight, seven, six..."

What do I do?! It's happening so fast! I'm so nervous…

"Five, four…" Izuku said, now joined by Mina, Ochako, and Kirishima.

This thing better come off or so help me…

"Three…"

Kuri gripped her arm tightly, unable to look away from her tattoo. Everyone leaned in closer to get a better look.

"Two…"

I've suffered long enough, so please, please go away.

"One."

Everyone was still, their eyes trained on her arm. Kuri gulped. For a moment, it seemed as if nothing had changed. Then, the tattoo slightly faltered as if it had been smudged. The ink slowly began to fade away, leaving nothing behind except the tanned skin of her forearm and a few freckles here and there. It was quiet.

Fat tears began to fall from Kuri's eyes, dripping onto her now bare arm. She let out a deep, guttural sob, releasing the anguish she'd been bottling up for the past year.

She was free. Finally free.

Suddenly, Kuri was being embraced, catching her by surprise. Realizing who it was, she tentatively wrapped her arms around him. She smothered her face into Bakugo's chest and began to sob even more. She couldn't even bother to question the hug or feel embarrassed by it.

He was so warm. The epitome of comfort. Kuri didn't want to let go, and she didn't have to. She didn't have to suffer alone. And neither did he.